Guardian of the Future
by Catheryne
Summary: SVCharmedRoswellAngel. After dying, Chris becomes guardian of the future balance of good and evil. Can he prevent the greatest evils from emerging by looking into their past? ChloeLex
1. Default Chapter

Guardian of the Future

Crossovers: Smallville/Angel/Charmed/Roswell

Characters: Chloe Sullivan, Lex Luthor, Maria de Luca, Isabel Evans, Whitney, Chris Wyatt-Halliwell, Illyria, Spike

Basic Information:

This takes place after Chloe comes back to SV, two years after the end of Roswell, after Chris' death and after Angel finale.

Prologue

This was how death felt like. It was a slow burning working its way up from his wound, spreading throughout his body, consuming him like liquid fire and he suffered.

He suffered so much.

He was a grown man who braved demons and the world and even heaven to save his brother from the evil tentacles that reached out from the dark belly of earth. Poor little Wyatt, to be so young and prey to corruption. Chris had failed.

Suddenly he was no longer a man and was now the little boy who never knew his father.

In that moment, Chris cried the tears he tried so hard to keep. And then he screamed, pitifully it seemed, in pain, "Dad!!!" As much as he hated Leo before, there was nothing that compared to the arms of a parent.

It was the day he died. Chris felt pain. And then he felt fear.

This was what death felt like. It was a slow throbbing of your insides, like curdling acid that rots your strength. She cursed the very shell that encased her, for she could only blame this weakness on the frailties of a human.

Illyria held the man before her. He was slowly fading from the mortal wound. Much as she disdained thesepitiful creatures, she had learned slowly that the decline took even those as strong as she down. This man before her was dying, and she should not feel one bit of pain.

Wesley cared. She saw it in his eyes; she felt it i his touch. It saddened her to know that it was all for the shell. He did consciously decide against murdering her, even saved her from certain extinction. For that she owed this human one gift.

Illyria touched his face and whispered, "Do you want me to lie to you now?"

He nodded, and she reverted to the appearance of the shell. Futile promises of love, one meaningful vow to meet again in an unbidden shore where the lost souls rest. Illyria laid her lips on his and closed bid the gentle mind farewell. He became slack in her arms.

It was the day that Wesley died. She felt grief. And then she felt fury.

This was what death felt like. It was hot and frantic. Maria grabbed hold of Max's hand and looked left and right. "It's gonna be okay," she gasped. The car had turned upside down. The stuffed animal that they had gotten for Liz had been thrown and crushed.

She had not been looking. She had not been careful enough.

"Max!" she screamed again. Maria had seen the blood from his head wound. Her vision was even now blurred by the sickening mixture of tears and blood from her own wound. "Max!"

Maria climbed over the body of her unconscious friend. He was not going to die that day. Liz was in the hospital, after having just given birth to a wizened little boy. She craned her neck and searched for the mobile phone. It must have fallen; it must have lodged into one of the crevices; it was just not there. Maria knew he would lose one of her best friends if she did not act at once.

She grabbed Max's hand and held it to his forehead, hoping to stem the flow of blood. "Heal, dammit," she hissed. She had felt herself weakening from her own wounds. Maria told herself again to calm down and remember all the lessons on first aid in PE class. When you and an unconscious victim are both hurt, you treated yourself first. That way, you both had chances of survival.

Hoping against hope, Maria drew Max's limp hand to her temple and closed her eyes.

It was the day Max Evans died. Maria felt fear. And then she was so utterly confused.

So this was what it was to die. It was unsettling and frightening. When she first learned that Lionel Luthor was after her andher father, Chloe was tempted to let fate run its course.

Some people were meant to live for a short time; some people were destined for violent deaths. She thought that perhaps she was just one of those people.

Yet her instincts spurred her feet on their way to Lex. It was maddening that she even considered his offer of protection. For one who had long admired whom she believed was a great man from afar, Chloe could believe nothing of her interaction with Lex during her hiding. Even maddening how in those few months they became intimate. Every second was golden, every brief touch was different... with nuances of something she could not quite name. She doubted that he could give it a name either.

There was one starlit encounter, of one tentative hand on a cold cheek, and a finger brushing a trembling lower lip. A pristine handkerchief was patted on a moist neck. The next day, he had abruptly deposited her back in Smallville. She foun out that everyone had believed she was gone.

To Smallville, it was the day Chloe Sullivan lived again. Oddly, she felt bound to the ground once more, her wings clipped and her heart leashed. That day, Chloe felt it would be better if she died again.

Part 1

"CHRIS!"

His father's anguished cry was the last he heard from the plane. Chris felt himself floating in limbo, his spirit tossed from hell to heaven, back again, then back again. He had angered many in his attempt to save his brother. It was preposterous, to have his soul rejected by either destination.

He was supposed to just vanish, was he not? Why did he still have his consciousness? He had been mystical his entire life. Chris knew he was supposed to draw a blank from the moment of his death. What was going on? Were his aunts trying to get him back? He completely doubted it. They had him after all, as a newborn infant in his mother's arms. He was supposed to just evaporate, be lost in oblivion. He was not supposed to be wondering about his fate.

Chris sighed as close to a sigh as having no body would allow.

With his and his family's luck, he would have been forgotten in this limbo and spend eternity just thinking about when they would remember to consume him. That kind of thing probably always happened to them.

_Chris._

He felt for another presence. There was someone calling him. 'Hello,' he called out voicelessly.

_Chris. Go into the light._

Very trite, he thought. Still, it was finally a sign that he had not been relegated to float in limbo forever. Chris waded towards the tunnel of light.

Would his grams be waiting for him at the end of that tunnel? If he still had lips, he would smile. He wondered if his gramps would be there too. He hoped not, and that he listened to his advise to quit with the cigars.

_Hurry up. We don't have all day._

Chris started. Was heaven really tha busy that they had to rush his admittance? He always thought his ascent would be classy, slow and magical. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, he told himself as he waded up, up, up.

When finally Chris encountered the small opening and struggled his soul in.

'What?'

As soon as he passed through, Chris found himself becoming heavier. He looked down at himself and saw that he once again was recovering his corporeal form.

He was surrounded by blue robed men. Chris did not trust robed men. Robes indicated rituals, either good or bad. From his experience, good can easily become bad and bad can just as easily shift to good.

"What do you want from me?" he demanded, relishing that he once again had a voice. He was done. He had died. Why this?

One of the robed men clasped his hands in front of him, then swiftly opened his arms. "It is a question then of what you can do for the world."

"Hey look," Chris began. "I've done all I can. Wyatt is hopefully going to grow up fighting for good. I've died for it. You can't ask anything else from me."

"We are the Council of Good and Evil. We are the balance."

Chris shook his head. "What does that have to do with my eternal repose?"

"That's just it, son." The robed man stepped off his platform and approached Chris. He waved a hand in front of Chris, and the young man fell to his knees, then his side. Chris twisted in pain as his death wound returned to his body. "You see Chris, since you now would not exist, there is no place for you in either heaven or fell."

"What?" Chris hissed in pain. "You want me suffer this wound forever?"

"Of course not. We wish to give you the honor of being the Guardian of the Future, protector of the balance between good and evil. Too much evil seems to be in the distant future."

"I don't understand," Chris gasped. He knew if he had been alive, he would have fainted from the pain of the recurrence of the wound.

"With your characteristic devotion to your last project--"

"It was my brother I was protecting!"

"And your familiarity with the future and present world, we believe you to be the best candidate. You must appreciate the honor we are offering you."

"So what... you want me to travel back and forth? You want me to go to the future, see the evil, then come back to the present and prevent it?"

One of the other robed gentlemen protested, "Of course not. We don't want the world to be pure goodness. This is the council of balance. You will neither be good nor evil as the Guardian, Chris."

Chris gritted his teeth. "All right! Just... make this go away."

"You will need to go to the hospital for that," another man advised.

Chris snorted in disbelief. "You're not going to heal me?" He remembered his powers and placed his hand on his own wound. It may not have worked before. Maybe it would now.

"I'm afraid you have none of your previous powers. Movement through time is big enough a power for any creature."

Chris swallowed and rolled onto his back, moaning about the pain.

"You will be given help soon. And your first mission is a man named Alexander Luthor."

Chris turned to look at the robed men, and closed his eyes. Next thing he knew, he was laying on his back in an open field. Starlight winked above him.

"Well thank you!" Chris yelled. "Send me back down and kill me by leaving me stranded and wounded in the edge of nowehere!"

Chloe whirled around at the sound of the voice. She had been hunting for clues about the recent weirdness that had been reported. One girl woke up after a hit and run with several silver handprints all over her body. She had said that she had never felt better in her life. It happened around these parts, so she left the house to investigate. She was met with nothing but silence for about forty minutes until that scream.

Chloe turned her flashlight in the direction of the voice. Then, she slowly crept towards it. Her phone vibrated in her skirt, and she almost shrieked in surprise. Her heart was pounding. She was close.

She bent low so that if the person had an axe that he swung, her head would not get chopped off.

Chloe stumbled out into the field and spied the young man bleeding on the ground. It could so easily be a ploy to get her out in the open, but she didn't care. She dropped to her knees beside the fallen young man.

"Hey!"

The young man blinked at her and smiled. "I thought I'd surely be dead out here."

Chloe grinned. Wounded and lacking blood, the guy still had some spunk left in him. "Well we couldn't let someone die so normally. What is this, robbery?"

'Of life,' he thought. "Yeah."

She nodded. "I'd take you to the hospital myself but I'm afraid I'll just hurt you more. I'm calling an ambulance." Chloe took her phone out and saw the missed call from Lex. A thrill ran down her spine. He avoided speaking with her at all costs after that night that precipitated her reincarnation in Smallville. Chloe could think of many reasons she should call him back, and more reasons that she should not. First though, there was a wounded guy in front of her. "Smallville General!" she said calmly. "I have a stab wound victim here in the fields, along Sherman Drive--"

Chloe slipped her phone back inside her pocket. She peered into the face of the young man. "You'll be okay," she assured him. Even so, she still frowned at the sight of the very bad wound. She had to keep him conscious. "What's your name?"

"Chris," came the answer.

"Alright, Chris. Where are you from?" Chris turned his head away. "You're not from Smallville. Are you from Metropolis?"

"No..."

"Anywhere in Kansas?" Chris groaned. "You know a groan can be considered a yes. That's just Kansas," Chloe teased. "Chris," she started, growing somber. "I know you're really in pain. I need some answers though, because they will need it in the hospital."

Chris closed his eyes tightly. "I don't have a home."

"Your parents' names."

"None."

Chloe nodded her head. She took out a wad of tissue from her pocket, which she prepared for any samples that she might encounter. Chloe patted Chris' sweaty face. "Okay," she promised, "I'll stop asking questions."

"Thanks," Chris whispered.

"Why don't you tell me a story?"

Chris' eyes snapped open and he frowned at her.

"I have to keep you awake," Chloe defended.

"Then you tell me a story," he suggested. "I bet you won't run out of that."

"Ever hear about the princess locked in a tower?" Chris did not answer. Chloe was not waiting for one anyway. "She got into trouble with the king of a distant land. His son, the prince, took her away and locked her in a tower his father couldn't reach, a tower only the prince could visit."

"Did they fall in love?" Chris asked, because that's the way things went in fairy tales.

"No," Chloe answered. "She kissed him and he turned into a toad."

Chris chuckled, and caused the burning in his belly to escalate. "You bastardized that story."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Chloe grinned and took the balled tissue that she had already used on him, then covered his mouth with it. Chris blew and the tissue rolled to the ground. "That was what happened."

The Talon's business was at best passable that night. Lex sat on the counter, where he would be completely visible if Chloe were to turn up for his evening coffee. He had thought about everything carefully, thinking of her sake more than his own. Now he was ready to talk, and she was nowehere to be found.

"Turn up, Chloe," he muttered under his breath.

Lex surveyed the patrons, reading the movement of each one. A few months ago, he could not care less about other people who. He preferred to be left alone and he certainly did not people-watch. Since the last months of being with Chloe, Lex had been suspicious of every new character that passed by Smallville. He would be damned if he failed to protect her after he promised he would.

A short young woman, only a few years younger than he was, walked out of the back office of the Talon. Lex honed in on the new face. At first glance, she seemed harmless enough. She was barely taller than Chloe. The straight blonde hair ended past her shoulders. Her lips were in a permanent pout. She was an attractive woman to say the least. Lex was immediately on guard, because there were secrets in her eyes she would not allow him to read.

"Who are you?" Lex asked bluntly.

The young woman's eyebrow arched. "I'm the new manager of this coffeehouse," she arrogantly informed him. "And who are you?"

"Let me tell you."

"I don't want to know," she snapped. She knew how to handle customers like him. If there's anything she learned from Mr Parker, it was that you needed to let them know you were still in control.

"You asked." Lex smirked. "I'm the owner."

The young woman's eyes widened. She was about to apologize when Lex held his hand up in a gesture of silence.

"You're new in town."

The young woman nodded even if it was no question.

It was a little too coincidental that this woman would move in right after Chloe came back. It did not help that she sought employment in Chloe's hangout. "What's your name?"

"Maria."

Insane. That was too common a name. "And where did you come from Maria?"

"Look this is all in my resume," she answered, tense.

Defensive too. She was hiding something. "Are you so opposed to questions?"

"I moved around a lot," she surrendered.

Vague enough, Lex thought. "Where were you born?"

"Roswell, New Mexico."

As if people actually came from there. From a common name to a tiny city. She was committing mistakes left and right. "What brought you to Smallville?"

Maria gritted her teeth and glared at Lex. "You don't enjoy life, do you? You ask too many questions."

"I'm cautious."

She shook her head. "Everyone has a right to her privacy."

Lex shook his head. "Not when you're in my town and can pose danger to people I care about."

Maria sighed and leaned across the counter. "Believe me, the last thing I want is to cause trouble around here."

Her eyes were green, Lex noted in surprise as she gazed into his. Eyes like Chloe's. She was sincere, he decided. Eyes like Chloe's would never lie.

The lucid eyes of Maria snapped to the open door. The new manager straightened and headed back to the office. "Linds, can you take over out there?"

Lex blinked in surprise at the abrupt disappearance of Maria. He turned around and saw a tall voluptuous young woman with short red hair walk in. So many strangers in his town. He did not like it. Anyone of these can be after Chloe.

He watched silently as the young woman approached a couple sitting on a table and introduced herself as 'Isabel.' Isabel then asked if they had seen a blonde young woman of a certain height. Lex stiffened when Isabel indicated a height that was very similar to Chloe's. Isabel looked around the coffeehouse, then pursed her lips. She then walked out. Through the glass windows Lex saw a wild-haired man waiting outside on a motorbike. After a brief and heated conversation, Isabel got on behind the guy and they sped away.

Lex got off his chair and saw Maria step outside and move around to check on her customers' needs. She was shaping up to be an efficient manager after all. He started on his way out. He wanted to find Chloe and warn her about the new people around.

"Lex, hey!" he heard when he reached the street.

Lex groaned inside. "Clark, have you seen Chloe? She still has to pick up some paraphernalia from my place."

"That's what I came to tell you," Clark explained. "You told her to stay out of trouble right? She's out in the Sherman field investigating Wall of Weird stuff again."

"She's never going to learn." Lex got in his car. "Which way?"

"Down the street then turn left."

The whine of an ambulance called their attention. Lex looked up in time to see the ambulance speeding past. 'Turn right,' he muttered. 'Turn right turn right turn right.'

It turned left.

He hit the gas pedal to follow in its wake.

tbc

Like it so far?


	2. 2

AN: Thanks for the great support for the fic. I'm glad you're interested.

I was thinking of including Michael actually. Didn't put him in the list at first because his role was smaller than the others'.

Guardian of the Future

Part 2

Lex was about to have a coronary. The damned ambulance siren grated on him. He could think of nothing but speeding since he saw the ambulance turn left. Clark had opted to stay behind, and Lex wondered if Clark did it because he was afraid of what a possibly injured girl would say when she learned that Clark had tattled on her.

The very idea concerned Lex. Sure, Clark, and most of Smallville, knew how he had harbored Chloe during her and her father's months of hiding. Still, for Clark to come to him with this information... Lex was thankful he knew at once, true. But did that also mean that Clark suspected that there was more to his relationship with Chloe than a simple act of protection?

Wait a minute. Lex asked himself, _Was there more to his relationship with Chloe than simple protection?_

If he was very true to himself, Lex would have to say that every gesture and look, every touch, spoke of just that. That last night was proof enough.

_"Aren't you cold out here?" he had inquired, his voice soft like the goose feather pillow he had fluffed in his hands before handing them to Chloe when she first slept under his roof._

_Chloe had turned to him, and she was silhouetted by the thousands of lights that scattered behind her. She stood on the balcony of his penthouse apartment that starlit night, and Lex had the passing thought that she looked very much in place there. _

_He noticed the glimmer on her cheeks that almost vied with the shine of her eyes. "Are you crying?"_

_She had turned her face away and swallowed deeply, because crying was beautiful on girls like Lana--dainty girls who made agony look lovely. Crying was not for girls like her, who got red and blotchy in parts of her face that made her seem like a clown._

_"I know you're scared," he had begun. His voice was low. Lex moved towards her and was mere inches from pressing against her back. "I'd be scared too if I were you. I know you miss your home."_

_"My dad is my home. I'm fine," she had insisted._

_"Chloe," he had said, urging her to look at him. _

_Chloe had taken deep, steadying breaths because it was a shame to bawl in front of Lex. _

_When she did not turn, Lex slipped a hand on her cheek and gently turned her to face him. Chloe felt the smooth rich texture of his handkerchief slide over her cheeks to dry her tears. And then it had slid to her neck. "You don't have to be afraid. I'm here." Chloe nodded. "You won't have to be lonely." Lex had held her gaze then, because the months of subtle touches and tense regard have coalesced into an uncontrollable burst in his heart. "I'm here," he had promised._

_Chloe's trembling lips had parted. She had traced the planes and lines of his face with her fingertips. He had leaned down, and her eyelids had fluttered closed. _

_His phone had rung in his pocket. Lex pulled away. Chloe's eyes snapped open and she watched the way his gentle regard morph into disbelief and relief. She had never been so insulted. Then suddenly the expression was gone and she wondered if she had only imagined it._

Lex's gaze focused on the lights of the ambulance as he maneuvered to the exact spot of the fields she was in. He stopped his car a little way off. He felt it the moment she saw him. His heart slowed pounding when he saw one stretcher and heard the paramedic call out, "Male. Caucasian. Anywhere from seventeen to twenty two."

Lex frowned when he saw Chloe gripping the victim's hand in hers. He jogged towards the scene. Chloe looked up at him without rising from the ground.

"Are you okay?" Lex demanded from behind the paramedics.

Chloe nodded. "Nothing broken."

The paramedics looked at Chris' wound. When he hissed in pain, Chloe squeezed his hand, an action not lost on Lex.

"Chloe, let's go," Lex suggested. "The paramedics will take care of it."

She craned her neck over he paramedics replied, "I'm going with them to the hospital."

Lex let out a low rumble. "Don't start, Chloe."

Chris, even if he was used to squeezing his eyes shut in pain, suddenly tried to sit up because it was too good to miss. He had known Chloe for less than two hours but that was definitely not the right thing to say to her. The paramedics tried to push him back down, but Chris shushed them.

"What did you say?" came the deceptively quiet response of Chloe.

"You endangered yourself, Chloe. That's not acceptable," Lex answered, his voice with the same smooth control.

Chloe's lips curved without humor. "You would never understand me if you think your little warnings can keep me from pursuing a hot lead."

"That's not what I meant, Chloe."

"Look. Some guy is hurt," Chloe reminded him. "I'm going with the ambulance. See you," she bid curtly.

"They can take of him, or do you have more first aid learning than they do?"

"I found him!" Chloe argued, storming towards Lex. "I have a responsibility to him to see this through."

"You really don't," Chris tried to interject, but his voice was drowned by Chloe's.

Since Chloe was close, and her breath made his shirt flutter in the proximity, Lex whispered, "And you don't think you found me?"

Chloe's eyes widened. He was not going to do this. Not now. He could not just hide away somewhere and decided to talk about it when he wanted. "You can be so childish at times!"

She stalked towards the ambulance, where the paramedics were strapping Chris in. Chloe climbed into the back. The other paramedics got in aftr Chloe and slammed the door shut.

As the ambulance sped away, Lex shook his head and muttered, "And I'm hurt too."

Inside the ambulance, Chloe peered into Chris' face. "Told you you're gonna be fine."

"Always has to be right. That's the kind of girl you are," Chris said faintly. He remembered that guy. He was so familiar. Still, Chris doubted he had ever met him before. Was it possible that this niggling feeling was merely clues coming from his new role? Where had he seen him before?

"Come on!'' the man on the motorcycle demanded. ''The way these people are looking at me gives me the creeps.''

Isabel screwed her lips. ''What did you expect when you ride into a town called Smallville wearing tight black pants, a black leather jacket and a shiny black helmet?" She maneuvered herself behind him on the seat and looped her arms around his waist. "She wasn't there, Michael," she said in a tight voice. "But," she added, "there was a man who abruptly disappeared when he saw me. Bald."

"What did he look like?" Michael inquired, thinking deeply and recalling the bad men he had had run ins with.

"Would it matter?" retorted Isabel. "Our enemies can shapeshift into whatever they want."

"Just tell me!" he snapped. Short tolerance. Thin thread of patience. Both characteristics he promised Maria he would work on.

"Looked like a boy trying to be mean," Isabel replied.

"Young?" Michael clarified.

"No. Just. Early twenties. He looked like he was forced to mature early, I guess."

"Drugs," he concluded.

"It's not that. He just looked different, I guess."

"Not a surprise. There's a lot of strange folk here." Michael started the bike.

Isabel frowned. "There's nothing out of the ordinary.''

When they were about to roll, a jeep blocked their way. ''You were saying?" Michael mocked.

A woman with blue hair and a man with striking bleached white hair skipped off the vehicle. "City people," Isabel offered. Surely there was no blue dye in a place like Smallville.

The bike roared like thunder away from the jeep. As they passed the white-haired guy, he glared at the man. He took another turn when he thought he saw the guy's sharp bone structure transform into a mottled face with fangs peeking out from under his lips.

As soon as the shaggy boy and the voluptuous statue zoomed away on their bike, Spike allowed his face to return to normal. Illyria had seen him that way before, but Spike felt the disgust she tried to hide. He did not really believe it mattered what the old one thought. He just didn't want to bother with her grimace.

"You might wanna try to stay inconspicuous, Blue," Spike suggested as he looked her tight outfit up and down. "That's a bit overmuch, eh?"

Illyria studied a faraway point, her crystal eyes laden with grief. "I shall call no attention to myself. Fear not, half-breed."

The mocking word carried not as much weight, because Spike knew it came only as a matter of habit and not of meaning. 'Well ain't that jolly? I'm happy coz the bird isn't too vocal 'bout her loathing.' Spike turned to the coffeehouse, utterly useless to either him or Illyria for it was only at this time of night when they began to come alive.

"Do you see any other woman wearing anything like that, and with blue hair?"

Illyria had the tenacity to look offended. "I am no mere woman! I am Illyria, god to millions before men even grew the backbone to raise themselves from the primordial soup that graced half the earth."

Spike raised his brows. The previous owner of the shell may have been a mere woman, but Fred was intelligent enough to get the point after that speech. Illyria, a two million year old god, took one beat longer before deflating the insulted stance and changed into Fred. It still gave him the chills, that. Illyria was night and Fred was the day. To watch Illyria move about looking like Fred was disturbing to say the least.

"This pleases you?" Spike chanced a nod. Illyria turned away from him. "I do not care if it does. This change pleases me now."

The vampire shook his head. He wondered why Illyria even tried. They were the only two left to wander the world with the strength and knowledge that in a world at peace, would remain needless. The stark sadness and loss was still evident in her eyes. He saw it clearly when she looked around the coffeehouse, then settled on a chair.

"He probably wanted to die anyway," he offered.

"This is about her again," she concluded. "About this Winifred."

Spike shrugged. If this happened just a few years ago, he would laugh at the absurdity of it. Then again, he thought, remembering Dru, maybe not. He certainly would not chuckle at it today because of the entire sordid love story with the Slayer. "In the end, he was just moving about waiting to die. He said he loved her most, even before he met her."

She had said the very same thing when she held the dying Wesley in her arms and kissed him. They would be together again. She knew nothing about the truth of her statement though, for in the years of her sleep it was only blackness. There was no one to meet in an afterlife, for there was no one more important than the self. "You truly believe this?"

"Haven't proved it wrong yet." He looked around, scanning for the face that had been appearing in his late night dreams. It was the face of an answer. "Now let's see if the man in my dreams is around here." After he realized the words that had come out of his mouth, Spike pressed down the urge to spit.

"My dreams are empty," she shared sadly.

"Cheer up, doll. Our mission right now is to remove the black cloud hanging over both our futures."

Illyria's gaze focused on him, and she reminded him, "There is no black cloud in your future. There is no future for you. I will kill you soon."

"That _is _the black cloud," he answered.

"Mommy!"

Chris was hit by a memory of his mother Piper turning and laughing as she takes up himself or his just a year older brother Wyatt into her arms and swings the baby around until the little boy is giggling with delight.

He turned and saw not his mother with her long straight dark hair, but a more slender woman with short blonde hair reaching for a little girl. Chris noted the dark bruising on the woman's arms. He was appalled by the thought of anyone hurting a mother. People might call it a complex, but to Chris, mothers were sacred. Anyone who raised a hand on someone weaker, and most especially on a mother, would be dealt with severely.

Was this the kind of evil he was supposed to stop? He wanted this to be, but he doubted that the Council of Balance Between Good and Evil would save him from eternal limbo because of domestic violence.

'Your mission is a man named Alexander Luthor,' one of the cloaked figures had informed him.

"Search for a clue, or anything to indicate that Alexander Luthor is from around here."

"Marra Luthor, stop pulling mommy's hair," came the woman's voice.

Chris snapped back to the scene in front of him. The woman looked happy. It was possible that the bruises came from an accident. He needed to know what it was about Alexander Luthor that sent the council searching for a lost spirit like Chris.

He proceeded towards a flight of stairs that called to him. Secrets were always on an upper level. The little girl's laughter followed him on his way up the stairs. He desperately hoped that Alexander was not hurting the child's mother, because then Chris would have to hurt him.

When he reached the top step, a flash of white caught his attention. Chris turned to the movement and saw a figure in a white shift gown pass. He recognized the familiar face and cleared his throat. He supposed he should be embarrassed, but he felt close enough to the savior of his life to announce his presence this way. When she did not acknowledge his presence, Chris grinned and walked closer to her and said, "Chloe!"

Chloe did not turn. He watched as she paused in front of a door and tried the knob. Actually, Chris blinked. She seemed to be fading just a bit. "Chloe," he tried again. Chloe's hand passed through the knob. She started to penetrate the door.

"AAH!" Chris yelped and stumbled backwards, tripping over himself and falling flat on his back.

He opened his eyes and took deep breaths. "What the hell was that?" he whispered to himself. Chris sat up, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

"What the hell was what?" asked a very transparent Chloe Sullivan as she grinned down at him wearing a suit.

Chris screamed in earnest now. Was it raining ghost Chloes in this future?

"You're the one who just appeared out of nowhere and you're the one screaming?" the ghost asked in disbelief. "And don't you deny it! I feel every change that happens in this house."

"I'm here to research," he said.

Chloe smiled broadly. "Research!" she gasped. "I love research! I miss research."

Chris winced. "Well have you researched the fact that there are two ghosts of you?"

"You know what, I didn't notice it before when I saved you or I would have left you to bleed to death," Chloe snapped. "But you're an asshole!" She started to walk away from him.

Chris extended his arms in a pleading motion, but it seemed that ghosts did not have eyes on the back of their heads either. He was not going to follow that ghost. Instead, he opened the door and slipped inside the room that the first ghost went to.

He stayed in the shadows and saw the bald guy that Chloe was arguing with earlier, well in this future that would likely be several years ago. The man was sitting behind his desk and was smiling at the ghost. The man could see the ghost! Chris wondered if this man had a third eye. The man pushed away from his desk and walked towards the ghost. His fingers traced the outline of the glowing cheek. The light started to fade from the cheek, and the man went back to his desk and pushed a button. The image flickered out.

"A hologram," Chris murmured. So was the other ghost a hologram as well?

The man walked out of the room. Chris moved away even more so that he would not be detected. He followed the man down the stairs.

"Daddy." The girl Marra jumped up and tried to reach for her father.

The man ignored the little girl and turned to the woman. "You should be watching the news, Maria, instead of living in your own private world."

Maria stuck out her chin and narrowed her eyes at her husband. "Is that all, Lex?"

Lex waved dismissively. "And for heaven's sake, teach the girl how to read and write. She's jumping all over the place like a little animal."

Maria itched to hit him so hard for that comment. No one called Marra an animal, especially not her own father. Always, after hurtful words, Lex would vanish into his library or the bedroom, and she was not allowed to disturb him. He worked on so many things. Maria suspected what he was up to, but did not really mind as long as he left her and Marra alone.

As soon as he was gone, Maria collapsed on the couch and reached for the cordless phone. She dialed a familiar number.

"Isabel," she sighed. "I can't do this anymore. He's used me as a replacement for someone I barely knew. Then he found out how different I was from her. Now we're both completely miserable."

Chris took a step back from the living room. He then turned around and looked up at the second floor.

There she was. His friend. Chloe wearing what would have been her favorite suit, watching sadly from the second level. The real ghost.

tbc


	3. 3

Guardian of the Future

Part 3

The scent of coffee beans was unattractive to both Spike and Illyria. The god-king Illyria, in Fred's body, slithered into the Talon, and Spike marveled once again at how the figure of shy and brainy Fred Burkle now moved confidently. It was almost as if Illyria was certain of her place in the world, when Spike knew that was far from the truth.

"The answer shall be here. Are you sue of this?" came Illyria's low inquiry. "Can you truly follow through with your promise? You will not allow me to fall into some great evil in the future?"

"It is also my life I am protecting, Blue. Thus," he related, "you can trust my intentions."

Illyria stared at the half-breed, but did not react. She never smiled, Illyria, not even when she was pleased.

Spike shrugged, because her smiling or not truly did not make a difference to him. He focused on his mission, which was primarily to save himself. He looked around, intent on finding this guardian that would likely have the answer. There was a boy watching them, very large, and Spike thought he would know something. He ambled to the dark-haired boy in flannel and asked, "Where is the guardian?"

In response, the boy blinked and remained staring at Illyria. Spike shook his head. Unacceptable.

"Well you seem to know a lot," Spike said.

Illyria studied the boy and mentioned, "His body warms. His mind slows." Spike grinned. That much he could tell. "His fluid shall spill." That made his smile fade.

Spike was about to pull Illyria away. However, Spike noticed Clark drool. Spike sighed in relief. Saliva was somewhat acceptable. He did not need to beat the boy bloody.

"Come on, Blue."

Spike jerked his head towards the counter.

"I fail to honor such invitation." Humans have always had graceless movements. What else did she expect from a half-breed? She did however, still follow her companion.

They stopped at the counter. Like Spike, Illyria sat on one of the stools.

"Hey bird. You have a guardian around here?" Spike called out to the blonde attendant, the cafe manager.

"Are you buying anything?" she asked. On her name tag it said 'MARIA.' "This is not the information counter."

"You are hostile," Illyria concluded.

Spike turned and hushed his god-king companion. He assured her, "I know what the bird wants." Spike drew out a bill from his pocket and slipped it over the counter.

Maria took the money and Spike grinned, satisfied. His grin vanished when she presented him a cup of coffee. "This is not the information counter," she repeated. "Thanks for the tip." She dropped his change in the tip jar.

"I don't want a bloody coffee!" he exclaimed.

"Coffee is all we have," Maria pronounced.

"Bugger this!" Spike burst.

The patrons turned to the counter. Spike turned to Illyria, involuntarily asking for help. He saw flannel boy take a step towards him.

"This is not true," Illyria commented. "You also seem to offer some pies and muffins."

O O O

Chris jerked away on the hospital bed. The image of ghost Chloe staring down at him and watching Maria and the girl still was clear in his mind. The steady sound of typing penetrated his fogged brain.

"Hey!" Chloe greeted with a blinding smile. "Welcome to the land of the living."

"Hello to you too," he returned. "Why are you still here? Why aren't you with your boyfriend?"

She looked at him quizzically. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"The guy you were fighting with?"

"Lex Luthor?" she asked. "Not my boyfriend."

Chris recognized the name. Now he was certain that the man was his mission. Chris relaxed because he would have been sad since the guy was marrying Maria. Was it fair for him to want to change the future not just because of the balance of good and evil but because he did not want his friend turning into a sad, trapped ghost?

She should as much as possible stay away from the man, to remove any motive for Alexander Luthor to become the great criminal mastermind he was bound to be.

Outside the hospital room, Lex sat in the waiting area. Chloe was going to step out of there sooner or later. She had complained about how stifling he was becoming. He was not going to commit the mistake of barging in there. Let her have this space for once.

Lex's phone rang. It was his housekeeper. The nurses at the station shushed him. He waved in dismissal and answered the call.

"Mr Luthor," he heard. "I just wanted to make sure before I did anything. Your bed is all covered in honey." Lex's eyebrows furrowed. "Did you want it like that or shall we clean it up?"

Lex narrowed his eyes. "Who was in the house?"

"Nobody, Mr Luthor. Only you and after you left, Ms Chloe came to pick up some of her things."

"That vandal," he muttered. "Please clean it up. I'll be having a talk with Ms Chloe in a few minutes."

"Oh but it will be no problem removing this, Mr Luthor!" the housekeeper quickly revised. Honey on silk? Lex doubted that. "Ms Chloe pulled a prank. Very delightful!" She even chuckled on the phone.

Lex shook his head. It was not fair that she had already won every heart in the house. He hung up the phone.

She had already lashed out. It was even endearing, the way she showed her anger with honey. He hoped it was a sign of what he could expect in the coming years. He picked himself up and glanced at his watch. Then, Lex proceeded to the coffee dispenser. He would not miss Chloe this way.

True to Chloe fashion, she walked towards the coffee dispenser at the exact time he expected her to. When she glanced up and saw him waiting there, she hesitated. The need for caffeine won over her decision not to speak with him. Stiffly, Chloe worked her way to the machine and took a cup.

"I was hoping we could talk," he began. Chloe paid him no mind and sipped her coffee. "I admit that I was out of line, but I truly wanted to keep you safe."

"Do you remember when we met?" she asked, her voice cold.

Lex's lips curved into a smile. "I went to the Torch office and saw your Wall..."

"No. When we really met," she clarified. "I was in such deep shit with your dad. You were the valiant guy who offered protection."

"And you turned me down. You're stubborn."

Chloe nodded. She was still looking away from him. "But when I couldn't handle it anymore--"

"You came to me."

And it became clear to him. She needed her space, her independence. That was the type of young woman she was. She would most likely not be able to control her actions and her decisions would never always be the smartest ones. After all, her emotions often got the better of her. Lex knew that was something he would never ever be able to change. However, what she was telling him right now was that no matter what kind of trouble she got herself in, she would always be able to recognize when it became too much to handle.

Then she looked him directly in the eye. "I'm not a stupid girl, Lex."

"Definitely not," he agreed.

"And I was kind of hoping that if I do something really stupid, you still won't have given up on me. And you'd still be willing to save me."

He nodded and took the cup of coffee from her hand. He placed it down. "It will always be me."

Chloe smiled. "So why did you suddenly take me home, Lex? That still confuses me."

"I guess I didn't know how to deal with something like this." Lex was aware that some people had turned and were watching them. They were also blocking the coffee dispenser. "You're seventeen."

"That's not a big deal," she dismissed. "You're just six years older."

"Very true," he admitted. Lex took her hand and raised it to his heart. He leaned down to take her lips. "Watch a movie with me."

Chloe grinned. "In your house?"

Lex nodded. "Speaking of my house... I understand you dropped by earlier."

"Sorry?" she said uncertainly.

Lex shook his head. "You should apologize to the housekeeper, although the way she defended you, it's unnecessary." Chloe chuckled. "I do want to tell that there are far more interesting ways to use honey in bed."

She pushed away gently. "Easy there. I still have to go back to check on my patient."

Lex dropped a kiss on her cheek. "If I didn't know better, I'd be very very jealous."

"Well that's what's really good about you. You do know better," Chloe answered.

"You shouldn't have said that," Lex complained. "Now if I get jealous, I'd be the biggest jerk on the planet."

"It's called preemptive strike."

"Have you been going through my investment profile?" Lex asked.

Chloe arched an eyebrow. "Are you investing in an arms company?"

Lex shrugged. "My financial adviser has been showing me some numbers. Looks pretty good."

"Well," Chloe said thoughtfully, "I suppose with your insane obsessive-compulsiveness, you'd be useful in making sure the weapons those boys are gonna use in war will be the best quality ever."

Lex smirked and pulled her close. "You know me too well."

"Clark is going to freak out."

"And we care about this?"

"Oh go back home!" Chloe advised. "I'll be by later. And you have to talk to my dad."

Lex shook his head. "You're not going to abandon me there."

"But remember," she grinned at him, "when I know I can't handle something, I can come to you?"

He tapped on her nose and propelled her towards Chris' room. "I'm going to have to be careful with you, huh," he whispered into her ear. "You will most likely be able to play me, just because I'll be head over heels and not be minding anything else but you."

"Not possible," she responded. Then she turned around in his arms and waved. "See you later."

O O O

The manager of the Talon wiped the sweat from her brow and threw the towel into her bag. Who knew that running a coffeehouse was even harder than waitressing the Crashdown Café? She had a newfound respect for Mr Parker. It probably had to do with the responsibility she had now. Maria had to make sure everything ran perfectly. It suited her. At least her roles matured with her age. Gone were the days when she could stay with the clock and leave all the details to the owner. Now, she really had to mind the entire café.

Maria slung her bag on her shoulder and pushed the backdoor open. She locked up and looked back to ascertain that she had turned off all the lights. Energy was expensive. Her new project was to bring down the overhead costs to show Lex Luthor that she could raise profit by cutting costs.

"Maria."

She whirled around and saw Michael leaning against the alley wall. Maria sucked in her breath at the sight of her big, alien boyfriend. He was beautiful, even when her eyes were swollen from lack of sleep, and his hair was uncombed and windblown.

"Let's go home," he requested. "Enough of this running away."

"You're telling me that? Aren't we just running away from the Feds? Haven't we been doing that for the past two years?"

He shook his head and unfolded himself to his full height. He walked towards her. "I'm talking about what you're doing. You're running away from your friends, from me."

"I can't go home," she answered. "I killed Max."

He reached for her hand and squeezed it. Maria closed her eyes. "Isabel isn't mad. Liz isn't mad. I'm not mad, and who cares what Kyle thinks but he's not mad at you either. It was an accident."

She waited a beat before admitting, "But I'm mad at you. And I'm mad at Isabel." She pulled her hand away, then pressed it against her temple. "Everything Max doesn't remember from your past life in Antar is right here. She betrayed me. And you did too by allowing those people to worship you. You two would've overthrown Zan if you had the chance, if Khivar hadn't moved first. I hate Vilandra and Rath, and they're you!" When she pressed an unconscious Max to heal her wounds, and he had died, all the memories went to her. Without Max's trauma to tamp down and block the memories, all the images were stark and clear in her mind. "I can't come back to you," she decided, looking straight into Michael's eyes. "Don't even try to make me."


	4. 4

Part 4

When he woke up, Chris expected to hear the steady typing that had accompanied his many awakenings before. He was disappointed to see that Chloe was not in the room. It must have been apparent in his face, because the nurse who was standing at the foot of the bed and looking over his chart patted him on the leg. Chris smiled, thinking it was a thoughtful gesture.

"Your friend left with Mr Luthor, if that's who you're looking for," the nurse provided.

Chris wanted to thump himself over the head. He was supposed to be watching out for Lex Luthor. Now his only friend had left with him. He was not doing a very good job of it, was he? He hoped the Powers that Be wouldn't take away his new mission. He was kind of enjoying the friendship he had made.

The nurse must have read his expression in another way, because the next thing he knew, she was pulling up a chair and sitting next to him, a motherly look of concern etched in his face. Chris found it a bit eerie. After all, his recent experience with his own mother was in such a buddy manner. That was because he last saw Piper when she was only about a decade older than he was. "Awww son, don't feel too bad. You'll find a nice girlfriend soon. You didn't stand too much of a chance with her, even if you're nice-looking. Those two have been in and out of this hospital like this was the mall, they were bound to hook up. The few times they were here I could tell they were just waiting to get together sooner or later."

Chris smiled at the woman uncomfortably. "Well I hope she just gets home safely," he offered, hopefully to get the nurse moving. He had to think. He had to concentrate. The connection between Chloe and Lex really had begun.

"That we won't know for sure," the nurse said, grinning. "Both of them get into so many accidents, and you put them together in one car? I hope they're extra careful!"

Finally, the nurse stood to leave. She patted Chris on the arm and assured him, "If you get well in the next day, I have a niece coming in from North Dakota that's pretty as a pie and I can get you a date."

Chris smiled and thanked the nurse, still uncomfortable. When he was finally alone, he wanted to focus on getting better, not for the North Dakota girl but to get this mission completed in the shortest time possible. There was no telling who Lex Luthor could turn against if he continued in that evil destiny. He could even hurt Chloe.

He was not even alone for five minutes when the door opened again. Chris sat up so he would not be defenseless against the talkative nurse. He found himself looking at a platinum blonde man who slinked into his hospital room.

"You're the Guardian," the man began. He extended a hand, which Chris awkwardly shook. "The name's Spike."

"I'm Chris, not a guardian," answered the patient. Better be safe than sorry.

"Stuff it, man. I need yer help. I'm far from normal. Or human."

Chris wanted to yell in relief. They sent him some help! Another angel? "Do you know anything about the great evil I'm stopping?"

"Well bloody right I know what great evil you can stop from happening. You gotta do something about Blue out there."

Chris' eyes wandered to the glass opening of the door and saw what looked like a timid brown-haired young woman stepping into the room. "That's a great evil?" Chris repeated uncertainly.

"She's gonna be!" Spike answered.

The patient narrowed his eyes at Spike. "Are you an angel sent to help me out?"

"Angel?! Hell no! He's out of the picture." Spike shuddered. "Gives me the creeps to even be called by 'is name!"

"I don't know anyone named Angel," Chris clarified. "I'm asking if you're an angel."

The brown-haired young woman shook her head. "He's a half-breed."

Chris brightened. He, Wyatt and his aunt Paige were all called half-breeds at one time or another. "You're the son of a witch and a whitelighter too!? This is perfect."

"Me mum was called witch sometimes," Spike admitted. "Don't know what the hell a whitelighter is. I'm a vampire. She used to be a god-king."

Chris' eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He grabbed at his neck until he realized he was already dead. "Nobody ever said anything about any of those!"

"Look, you're the Guardian of the Future," Spike told Chris. "Well guard the future by not letting her kill me."

"You two are not my mission," Chris pointed decidedly. "Nothing outside the mission." He had to get out of there. He still needed to check back in the future to find more clues that led to the corruption of Lex Luthor.

00

The clock read nine o'clock. Maria looked around the shop and was satisfied with the number of customers still around. In Roswell's Crashdown Café, she and Liz would have been starting to clean up by this time. Since she was now managing a coffee shop, her hours were later. They needed to open up earlier for those people who needed their fresh cup before starting their day. Since those people were the night owls, the Talon had to be kept open to cater to them during their peak hours.

After everyone had been served, Maria cherished the precious time when she could just sit behind the counter and start working on the books. For someone who had hated Math, she was showing an abnormally cheery disposition in facing a balance sheet.

Maybe it was because Math was a lot less complicated than life. Here, one plus one is always two. Everything was a given. If the left column did not agree with the right, someone screwed up. Everything was matter of fact and straight to the point. She wished life was like that.

"You know I can wave a hand over that and you'd be done for the day."

Maria looked up to see Isabel Evans leaning over the counter with a smile on her face. She had lost her brother. Why did she look so unproblematic? Maria had caused her brother's death. Why didn't Isabel's eyes hold any grudge or hatred? Did Liz look the same way? Given the fact that Maria had rendered an infant fatherless, she doubted it.

"Isabel," Maria choked out. She tried to think of something else to say, but there was nothing. How does one apologize for something like this?

Isabel's beautiful hand closed over Maria's. "How have you been?" she inquired, purposely veering away from the topic neither wanted to discuss.

"Good," Maria answered. "I'm not a waitress."

Isabel laughed softly. "You've been promoted." With a smile, she added, "I miss hanging out with you. I wish you'd just let me drop by every little while to catch up, you know."

The blonde behind the counter searched in her friend's face, found only sincerity and did not have any strength for more walls. "I just found out I'm the least mature of all of us. Everyone's making peace, settling down, moving on. Why can't I?"

"That's not fair, Maria," Isabel responded.

"Because it happened to me," Maria provided. "I know. In my brain. My heart though is another matter."

"That," Isabel answered. She grinned. "Also because everything true for the rest of us. Except Kyle, that is. He never matured. He's incapable."

That got Maria to chuckle. Isabel was still the same. Thank God. Maria finally agreed to her friend's request. "I'll give you free lattes when you're here for chitchat."

"I have something to tell you," Isabel said, "to get it out of the way and we can just talk like two girls who visit."

"Okay," Maria breathed.

The best way was still to do it in one breath, and get it over with. "Michael's gone. He joined the military." Maria's breath hitched. A flood of images made up of Rath, the Antarian general, and of Princess Vilandra threatened to overwhelm her. She fought them down. "So don't be afraid that he'll suddenly pop up here. He's not going to be hanging around anytime soon."

Maria nodded and smiled her thanks. "So who does Liz's baby look like?"

00

There were not many things in his life that Chris regretted. When he went to the past against all rules of magic, to destroy the future and the only life he knew, Chris did it wholeheartedly. He loved his older brother. As toddlers they were brought up that it was inevitable that Wyatt would be his hero. However, Chris knew full well that it was his responsibility to ensure that the strongest being in earth, heaven or hell work for the side of good.

He would miss that brusque guy, but Chris didn't regret destroying the possibility that he would ever be.

That was the reason of course that Chris was boggled by the steps he saw Lex Luthor take in this future world that he now watched. At first, Chris had thought that the Powers that Be had sent him to a boring conference. Lex Luthor was sitting at the head of a long table in his offices, alone, with a black leather briefcase in front of him. Chris waited for a beat or two, because he was certain that he would fade out soon and fade in to an action-packed sequence. Action was not forthcoming, however.

A few minutes later, Lex looked up. A burly suited gentleman, the uniform of whom Chris noted was of Lex's bodyguard. "The assassin is here."

Chris was prepared for the worst. He had seen a few demons in his time. He imagined that snapshot of his uncle that his aunt had kept in an old chest under her bed. Belthazor had been large, muscular, red, with eerie black markings all over him. He deflated when a sleek leather-fitted woman walked stiffly into the room.

"Illyria," greeted the businessman, who did not get up but motioned to one of the seats available.

"I would prefer to stand. The muscles of this shell must never be relaxed. It had been too used to slackness. Everything about this body has had to be stretched over time." In demonstration, Illyria raised long arms as high as she could reach. Then, with smooth and fluid movements, she bent to the left and the right.

"I hope you're not getting weak or slow," the businessman said.

"If you had any doubt, you would not have called me here."

Lex smiled at that. "Thank you for the confidence."

At this, Illyria cracked a smile. "The same for you. Now where is the money?"

The briefcase that had been lying on the table in front of Lex Luthor was touched. Lex pushed the buttons on the latch and revealed the money to the assassin. "This price is worth your reputation," Lex began. "Never let it be said that I do not pay for talent."

She glided over to the billionaire and reached out to run her hands over the cash. "Not long ago I owned a trembling earth," she murmured. "Now I am under orders of some boy born rich, just to survive."

Lex stood and allowed Illyria to step closer to the money. "Admit it," he whispered into her ear. She turned her head to meet his eyes. "You don't do it for the money. You thrive for the kill. Money is not an object. You have been feeding on the scent of blood since you killed that vampire with one strike of your arm."

At that, she whipped her head away and snatched the briefcase. "Do not speak of the past. I do not wish to remember."

Lex chuckled. "In your mind, you still live in the past, Illyria. You want to recapture your golden age. That's what you love about this job. You're powerful. You control."

"For one whose brain capacity is comparable to this shell and its dead lover, you will never understand."

"That's because you're full of contradictions," Lex answered. "You refer to these people you knew, to the grandeur of your reign, yet you will not talk of the vampire you killed."

"Enough!" she spat out, and the floor of the office rumbled beneath them. Her eyes flashed a bright blue, and then all calmed. "I will do what I have agreed to do. Your role is over. The general will be dead by tomorrow's sunrise."

Lex watched as Illyria strode out of his office. He was confident that she would get the job done. Only then will he finally close that chapter of his existence. His wife should recover, and he would lay that unpunished crime to rest.

A short series of beeps brought his eyes to the screen in front of him. He pushed the answer button on his desk, and the image of the general in question appeared on his screen.

"General Guerin," Lex greeted, "it's a pleasure to hear from you again."

"Drop the act, Luthor," Michael gritted. "This is not a conference call of any kind. Your supplies are arriving tomorrow. Be sure they're top quality or all contracts we have with you are off. I'm supervising testing tomorrow."

"They're top quality, alright," Lex assured Michael Guerin. The general he had first met as a shattered young man was visibly older. Lines on a face that should still be smooth proclaimed what the man had undergone in the last years. "Are you sure you want to supervise the testing though? You are still invited to my daughter's birthday of course. The party's tomorrow. Did you get your invitation?"

Michael shook his head. "I got it," he answered. "I'm not coming."

"I should say I'm disappointed. Marra would be too," Lex shared. "She has a lot of questions that I told her General Guerin could answer. She was looking forward to meeting you. Her fingers burn sometimes. I hear my wife tell the kid not to be angry all the time. Do you know why she's burning her Barbie's hair off when she's pissed?"

The mottled rage in the general's face was obvious. Lex could almost see Michael's own hand outside the camera's view starting to grow a fiery red-orange.

"Careful, general," Lex said quietly. "Control your temper," he advised. "You never know what explosives around you are that you can render out of control. You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?"

Michael shut his eyes tightly, evidently battling to keep his temper in check. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. When he opened his eyes, Lex saw none of the anger. In them, he saw something that had become so familiar in the many years they've been acquainted.

It was the same emotion that Lex saw in Michael's eyes that day out in the testing field, while Maria knelt on the dry soil and held her hands in front of her, staring at the futile silver markings. Lex Luthor stood looking down at a body almost completely unrecognizable that he could not even swallow the name. He had then looked up at the young man who had been scampering towards them and fell onto his knees.

"She's dead, Michael!" Maria had cried, looking at the stunned young man. "We killed her."

Lex had been numb, but he knew each part of his body was trembling in disbelief. He smelled the scorched flesh. He had gazed into that vacant green stare. And then he memorized every detail of the two faces in front of him. Soon he would learn their names. At that moment, he could only hold himself up.

"Will you ever let it rest?" Michael finally said, no longer the young man now, but an experienced man who had fought for his control.

Lex looked him in the eye. "The moment my heart stops being the vacuum that it's been since you killed her."

"You've taken everything from me," Michael replied.

Lex shook his head. He pushed the off button for the video call. "Not nearly enough," he murmured. He flipped the screen on and gazed at the grinning photograph of Chloe fitting her wedding gown. Pale, smooth, unblemished skin untouched by scars or burns going on endlessly until white lace and satin closed over it. Just one damn day before Michael Guerin's screw up. No, Lex hadn't taken nearly enough. Illyria would take care of the rest.


	5. 5

Part 5

The Guardian of the Future was completely certain that he was never meant to see the image that he witnessed. And if he was, then he should appeal for better benefits and faster career movement. It would probably have been better if he had seen that future before he met and became friends with Chloe Sullivan. That way, the picture of her burned corpse would not haunt him the way it did now.

Had he not been afraid that those images would hound his nightmares, then he would not have stayed through the proud and irritable way that this silver haired vampire shook his head. This Spike even had the gall to say, "You already said no. I've had enough no's in my couple hundred to refuse you now."

Chris' eyes narrowed in frustration. "You're not even the one I need. I need to talk to the woman. She's the only one with any remote connection to the future I'm supposed to prevent," Chris argued, and wished to heaven someone would push away the night very quickly to fry this asshole.

"Well," the mousy female behind Spike pitched in, transforming before Chris' eyes as she approached, with her voice dropping lower and her bearing becoming grander, "that's because the half-breed would have been dead by the time."

"That's right," Chris agreed. "I don't need him. But I want to talk to you, because you're going to be a handful."

Spike's face screwed. "You're insane! How young are you exactly? You were probably born around the 1980, weren't you? Disgustingly young and ignorant bloke," he muttered.

"I was born 2004, but that's none of your business. What's your point?" Chris demanded.

"Well bugger this!" Spike exclaimed, throwing up his hands. "They're bloody 'ell given the fate of the world to an overgrown one-year-old!"

When the vampire would have walked away, Illyria held up a hand on his chest to prevent him from moving farther. The vampire glared; Illyria returned the favor. She turned to Chris and smiled coldly. "Forgive his temper, but you can understand," she said it not in question or in plea, but as a statement. "You have here before you ancient wisdom and whatever he has gone over the centuries, but both our futures are in the hands of someone who should still be in diapers."

Chris closed his eyes tightly, because he needed patience and all the help he could get. If these two were arrogant enough to claim eons of experience that he could never hope to achieve before all hell broke loose in Alexander Luthor's future world, then he should take what lessons he could get.

"What is so wrong about my approach?" he asked.

"Where will I even start!" Spike yelled.

Illyria immediately held up a hand to silence him. She turned to Chris, and stunned him to rapt attention with ice blue eyes. "You're going immediately to the time you need to prevent, like an avenger. You are no avenger, guardian. You are a protector."

Spike looked at the boy's face, as emotions passed swiftly as he took in Illyria's words. "Look at me, kid," he said to make it shorter. "Don't just to the time when everything's done. There's no use crying over spilled milk. Trace the source, and then nip it in the bud."

Chris grinned and held out his hands to both, when they reached for his hands, they spiraled out of space and time.

2006

The three of them were squeezed in on the backseat of Chloe's convertible as she drove recklessly through the cornfields. They focused intently on the young woman as she spoke on speakerphone.

"I'm on my way!" she said, chuckling.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" asked the voice on the line, which Chris immediately recognized as Lex Luthor's. He relayed the information immediately to his companions, who had no idea what the importance of the man was in the greater scheme of things.

"Whose fault is it that he had to attend another meeting when we were supposed to leave?" Chloe parried.

"I'm signing contracts that will ensure you get your dream wedding," he teased.

Chloe rolled her eyes. The three could see her from the rearview mirror. "I'm not going through another spiel about your choice of investment, Lex."

"War is where the money is," he defended. "My money is going into the effort that we become well-equipped to defend the nation against terror."

Chloe smiled this time, "If you say so." Chris' heart sank, because he just knew then, with the instinct born of being half Halliwell and half whitelighter, that the weapon that would kill the young woman was created with Lex's money. "Just hurry up and follow me, okay?" Chloe said into the phone. "I'll see you soon."

"See you."

Chloe reached for the power button on the phone to turn it off. When she reached the edge of Smallville, she turned the car towards the Talon, which Spike promptly recognized as the same coffeehouse they were in a few hours ago. Chloe grabbed a few thick books from the front passenger seat, alighted from the car and strode into the Talon purposefully, with no hesitation. It was the stride of confidence, and Chris took it as something borne out of knowing that she belonged. It helped of course, that the Talon effectively belonged to her this early in her engagement.

The three sat on a table close to the one that Chloe chose to sit in. She dumped the books on the table and waved to the red-headed woman at the counter, who motioned that she was coming.

Two blonde women were seated in the booth behind them, and Chris' sharp ears caught the conversation in the background.

"I talked to Michael," one voice whispered. "He says he's sure about what he's doing."

"Good for him," the other voice mumbled.

"Don't you get it, Maria? It's insane to join, when he's clearly completely distracted about you."

Chris heard the brief shuffle, and waited for the movement behind him. The red-headed woman embraced Chloe and said, "Wait a minute. I'll tell Maria I'm taking my break." She turned to the booth and signaled.

"I have to go, Iz. Martha's calling me."

And then Chris focused now on Chloe's vibrant face as she flipped through the pages of the binder and showed pictures of gowns, flowers and venues to the older woman. For the first time since eavesdropping on Maria, Chris saw the slender young woman as she passed by their table. When Maria reached Chloe's table, Martha grabbed her arm and introduced her to Chloe again.

"Congratulations!" Maria warmly greeted. "I heard about your engagement. It was impossible not to."

Chloe shook Maria's hand. "Thanks, Maria. I'm ecstatic. I hope Lex has given you a raise since you've been working here for so long."

"Oh no problems there!" Maria assured the young woman. "I'm getting more than enough, although I wouldn't mind if you will give me another one," she joked.

"These humans are fools," Illyria murmured, "to believe that such thin disguises can hide their true feelings, that laughter hides the pain."

"The chit ain't doing a jolly job of it, eh?" Spike added.

Martha squeezed Maria's arm and told Chloe, "Maria has been adopted by the town."

"That's good to hear," Chloe said. "It's a tricky business, getting embraced by a small community."

Maria nodded, smiling. She glanced at the booth that she left, and turned back to Chloe and Martha. "Why don't I go grab a cup of coffee on the house for you? You're going to own all those beans anyway." She went over to the counter to prepare the drinks.

Chris saw the taller, more voluptuous blonde as she passed by them on the way to the counter as well. She and Maria shared a few more minutes of tense discussion. Chris saw the tense set of Maria's shoulders as she listened to what the other woman had to say.

"You notice that? Who is she?" Chris whispered rhetorically. As far as he could connect, the Michael that the two women talked about was the general in Lex's future, who Lex wanted killed when he hired Illyria.

They spent about an hour more watching for clues that never seemed to lead anywhere else but to what they already knew.

Everyone turned when the door opened, and Chloe pushed her seat back and rushed towards the new arrival. Without turning, Chris could tell who it is. He did not need to watch the way Chloe threw her arms around her fiancé, or the way Lex immediately wrapped his arms around her and took her lips in a breathtaking kiss. All this, he knew would happen, given the raw pain of the future world.

Instead, he watched the café manager at the counter, to see the reactions of the young woman who would soon become Mrs Luthor.

Maria De Luca dried coffee mugs with a clean towel as she watched the reunion with a smile. In her eyes, he saw no malice or contempt.

"Why did he marry Maria?" It was not a matter of reliving memories, because the two women were worlds apart from each other. "If Maria was so unhappy as Lex's wife, why didn't she leave him?"


End file.
